Russia’s Defence Ministry said on 17 August that its air-defence systems destroyed about 300 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in the preceding 24 hours and that strikes had hit storage sites for Sapsan missiles across Ukraine. The announcement came as Russian troops sought to consolidate positions near the settlement of Zolotyi Kolodiaz in the eastern Donetsk region, where heavy fighting continues. The ministry said warplanes, drones and missiles were used in the operation and that air-defence crews also intercepted four guided aerial bombs. Independent verification of the scale of the interceptions or damage to the purported Sapsan depots was not immediately available, and Kyiv did not issue a public response to the claims. Russian state media issued mixed figures the following day, reporting that 23 Ukrainian drones were downed overnight and that a total of 141 had been intercepted over the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Air Force said it had shot down 88 of 140 Russian drones launched overnight, underscoring the intensifying drone war that now dominates large stretches of the front. The conflicting tallies highlight the difficulty of assessing battlefield losses in real time, but both sides agree that drone attacks and counter-drone measures have become central to operations as the conflict in eastern Ukraine grinds on.